2K 


PAMPHLET COLLECTION 
DUKE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 


SERMONS 


BY THE 

REV. THOMAS BACON, OF MARYLAND, 
FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1763, 


ON 


THE bUTIES OF SERVANTS. 


Reprinted for the “ Society for the Advancement of 
Christianity in South-Carolina.” 


Second Edition. 


J 


J 


SERMON I. 

Ephes vi. 8. 

'Knowing, that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same 
shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.” 

® HAVE chosen a text of Scripture, which I could 
Wish you all had by heart and would all remember; — 
because it shews you what a great friend you may have 
in heaven, if you will but take any pains to gain his 
favour. For St. Paul, who wrote by the direction of the 
holy Spirit of God, assures you that whatsoever good thing 
d man or woman doth, they shall receive the same ; that is, 
shall be rewarded for it by the Lord whether they he hand 
or free. And this cannot but give you great comfort to 
know, and be as'sured, that whatever good thing you- do, 
though you be slaves, bound to serve masters and mis- 
tresses here upon earth, for the sake of a maintenance — 
yet, while you are doing what is right and good, you are 
at the same time working for a just master in heaven, who 
will pay you good wages for it, and will make no differ- 
ence between you and the richest freeman upon the face 
of the earth. For God is no respecter of persons. He 
1 




r 


2 


The Duties of Servants. 

values no man for his riches and power, neither does he 
despise or overlook any one for his rags and poverty. He 
loves none but those that are good, and hates none but 
those that are bad. And our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ has given us an account, from his own mouth, of a 
certain great man who had riches and pleasure at will, 
•while he lived in this world, that was throw n into hell at 
his death, because he was not good : while a poor, des- 
pised beggar, all overrun with sores and filth, who died 
for want at this great man’s gate, was carried. by angels 
into heaven, because he had been a good man, and had 
served God, his heavenly master, so far as he had know- 
ledge and opportunity. . 

That you may easier understand, and better carry 
away in your memory what you shall hear, l shall en- 
deavour, by God’s help, to lay before you, in the plainest 
words, 

I. Why you ought to serve God. 

II. What service, or what good things God expects 
from you. 

III. What kind of reward you may expect to receive 
from him. 

1. And the fit st reason why you ought to serve God, 
is — because that God made you ; — and he made you and 
all men to serve him. You know that when you were 
born, you did not come into the world by any power or 
help of your own : nay, it was some years before you 
could help yourselves, or had so much sense as to know 
your right hand from your left. It was Almighty God, 
therefore, who made you and ail the world, that sent you 
here, as he had sent your fathers and mothers, your mas- 
ters and mistresses before you, to take care of you, and 
provide for you, while you could take no care of, or help, 
or provide for yourselves. And can you think that Al- 
mighty God, who is so wise and good himself, would 
send you into the world for any bad purposes ? Can you 
be so silly as to fancy, that lie who made every thing good 
and useful in its kind, sent you here to be idle', to 
be wicked, or to make a bad use of any thing he 
hath made? No, my brethren, the most ignorant among 
you has more sense than to think any such thing : and 
there is none of you but knows that you ought to be 
good ; and whosoever is good, let him be ever so poor and 


THE FLOWERS COLLECTS j 

E 

The Duties of Servants. > Z :y~' 3 

# / J (p%°l 

mean, is serving God. For this whole world is but one 
large family, of which Almighty God is the head and 
master ; he takes care of all by causing the sun to shine, 
the rains to fall , the. waters to spring, the winds to blow, 
the grass, the trees, and the herbs to spring, and the com, 
the plants, and the fniits to come in their due season ; thus 
providing food and shelter for all living creatures. And 
to mankind in particular, he hath given reason and Jcnoiv- 
ledgc to teach them how to make use of, and turn all those 
things to their own comfort and support ; giving more or 
less of them to every one, according as he thinks fit, and 
as he knows to be best for them. And this general pro- 
vision which God makes of all things, anti this particular 
disposal of them, in giving more to some and less to oth- 
ers, together with his own secret way of bringing it 
about, is what we call his Divine Providence. 

Now, for carrying on these great and wonderful ends, 

God hath appointed several offices and degrees in his fami- 
ly, as they are dispersed and scattered all over the face 
of the earth. Some he hath made kings and rulers, for 
giving laws, and keeping the rest in order: some he hath 
made masters and mistresses, for taking care of their chil- 
dren, and others that belong to them : some he hath made 
merchants and seafaring men for supplying distant coun- 
tries with what they want from other places : some he 
hath made tradesmen and husbandmen, planters and la- 
bouring-men, to work for their own living, and help to 
supply others with the produce of their trades and crops: 
some he hath made servants and slaves, to assist and work 
for their masters and mistresses that provide for them : 
and others he hath made ministers and teachers, to instruct 
the rest, to shew them what they ought to do, and put 
them in mind of their several duties. And as Almighty 
God hath sent each of us into the world for some or other 
of these purposes— -so, from the king, who is his head 
servant in a country, to the poorest slave, we are all 
obliged to do the business he hath set us about, in that 
state of life to which he has been pleased to call us. 

And while you, whom he hath made slaves, are honestly 
and quietly doing your business, and living as poor Chris- 
tians ought to do, you are serving God, in your low 
station, as much as the greatest prince alive, and will be 


4 


The Duties of Servants. 


as much taken notice of, and have as much favour shewn 
you at the last day. 

2. A second reason why you ought to serve God, is — 
because you have souls to be saved. If you have nothing in 
this world but plain food and clothing, you have a place 
provided for you in heaven, when you die and go into the 
next world, if you will but be at the pains of seeking for 
it while you stay here. And there is no other way of get- 
ting to heaven, but by serving God upon earth. Besides, 
when people die, we know but of two places they have 
to go to, and that is, heaven or hell:- — so that whoever 
misses the one, must go to the other. Now, /' 'ere is a 
place of great happiness, which God hath prepated for 
all that are good, where they shall enjoy rest from their 
labours, and a blessedness which never will have an end : 
and hell is a place of great torment and misery, where 
all wicked people will be shut up with the devil, and 
other evil spirits, and be punished forever, because they 
will not serve God in this world. It was to save you, 
and all men, from that dreadful punishment, that our 
blessed Lord* Jesus Chi ist came down from heaven— -was 
made a man like us, and sufiered a most shameful and 
hitter death, his hands and feet being riveted with great 
nails to a cross piece of timber , and his side pierced through 
with a spear, as he hung upon it in all that pain and 
agony. And if he so loved our souls, that he gave him- 
self up to so cruel a death to redeem them from hell, v 

ought not we to have as much regard for ourselves as he 
had, and take some pains to save our own souls? Be- 
lieve me, there was not a single drop of bis precious blood 
spilled, in which the poorest and meanest of you hath not 
as great a share, as the richest and most powerful person 
upon the face of the earth. And think, O think, what a 
sad thing it must be, to lose any soul which cost Almighty 
God so dear as the life of his own well beloved Son ! But 
you must always remember, that though our Saviour died 
for the sins of all men, yet none shall have the benefit of 
what he did for us, but such as will serve God; for he 
made that the condition of our salvation, through him, 
that we should love and fear God . , and keep his command- 
ments. If, therefore, we would have our souls saved by 
Christ, if we would escape hell, and obtain heaven, we 
must set about doing what he requires of us, to serve God 


The Duties of Servants. 


5 


Almighty God has been pleased to make you slaves here, 
aud to give you labour and poverty in this world, which 
you are obliged to submit to, as it is his will it should be 
so. And think within yourselves what a terrible thing it 
would be, after all your labours and sufferings in this life, 
to be turned into hell in the next life, and your poor souls 
to be delivered over into the possession of the devil, to 
become his slaves forever in hell. 

Your precious souls are your own, which nothing can. 
take from you if it be not your own fault. Consider well, 
then, that if you lose your souls by leading idle, wicked 
lives here, you have got nothing by it in this world, and 
you have lost your all in the next. For your idleness 
and wickedness is generally found out, and your bodies 
suffer for it here, and what is far worse, if you do not 
repent and amend, your unhappy souls will suffer for it 
hereafter. And our blessed Saviour, who well knew the 
value of a soul, and paid so dear for putting them in the 
way leading to heaven, hath assured us in his holy word, 
that if a man was to gain the whole world by it, it could 
not make him amends for the loss of his soul. You see 
then, how necessary it is for you to be good and, serve 
God, since that is the only way by which your souls can 
be saved, the only means by which you can secure the 
favour and friendship of Almighty God, who, upon that 
condition, will make you great amends in the next world, 
for whatever you want, and whatever you suffer in this 
for his sake. 


SERMON II. 

In the first Sermon, I considered “why you are ti> 
serve God,” and am now to show “ What service, or what 
good things God expects from you. 

And here, you must not think that you can be of any 
advantage or benefit to Almighty God by serving him. 
He that hath millions of glorious and mighty angels con- 
tinually waiting round his throne in heaven, and ready 
every moment to perform bis commands, cannot want, ot 
1 * 


6 


The Duties of Servants. 


stand in need of any help or service , from the hands of 
such poor, mean creatures as we are. But when God 
made us, he intended that we should all be happy with 
him in heaven, when we leave this world, if we would 
live in such a manner here, as to be fit company for his 
blessed saints and angels hereafter. For he delights in 
the happiness of all his creatures, and his holy spirit is 
grieved, when they, by their wickedness, make them- 
selves miserable. To this great end, he hath given us 
rules to walk by ; which, if we follow, will prepare us for 
that happy state he hath provided for us in the next life. 
And whosoever observes these rules, and ordereth his 
behaviour according to their directions, is said to serve 
God ; though, in reality, he is then serving himself in the 
highest degree. 

Now these rules of behaviour relate to three things; 
namely, how we ought to behave towards God — toivards 
mankind — and towards ourselves; — and these I shall en- 
deavour to explain to you under the following heads:— 

1. Your duty or behaviour towards God. 

2. Your duty or behaviour towards your masters and 
mistresses. 

3. Your duty or behaviour towards your fellow ser- 
vants and othei's. 

4. Your duty towards yourselves. 

1. And in the first place, your duty towards God is to 
look upon him as your great and chief master, to whom 
you are accountable for all your behaviour, either in pri- 
vate or public, both towards himself, and to all mankind. 
You are to remember, that you can do nothing so secretly 
but he will know it, and that no place is so dark and pri- 
vate, but his all-piercing eye can see what you are doing 
in it ; for the darkness and the light are both alike to him. 
You are further to consider, that his eyes are continually 
upon you, and that it is impossible for you to conceal 
yourself a single moment out of his sight ; that he is 'pleased 
when he sees you doing what is right, and angry with you 
when he sees you doing any thing that is bad. And this 
will surely be a mighty check upon you, when you are 
inclined to do any bad thing, to think that Almighty God 
is that very moment looking upon you, and taking an ac- 
count of your behaviour. So that if it should be done so 
secretly and artfully as never to be known in this world,. 


The Duties of Servants. 


7 


yet your heavenly master sees it, and knows it, and will 
not fail to punish you for it in the next world, for doing 
what he hath forbidden you to do. This consideration 
will also be of great comfort and encouragement to you, 
in doing what is right and good ; for if no body else was 
to take notice of it, you are sure that he will : and if you 
meet with no recompence for it here, you know that Al- 
mighty God, who is the best of masters, will reward you 
for it hereafter. For you are assured in the text, that 
whatsoever good thing any man doth, the same shall he re- 
ceive of the Lord, whether he he bond or free. 

2. Another duty you owe to God Almighty, is — To 
love him ivitli all your heart, ivith all your mind, with all 
your soul, and with all your strength. In short, you must 
love God above all things. 

And, indeed, if you do but seriously think what God 
hath done, is every day doing, and will do for you here- 
after, if it be not your own fault, you cannot choose but 
love him beyond the whole world. Hath not-God made 
you % Hath he not given you all the comforts you have 
enjoyed in life? Hath he not given you, along with the 
rest of mankind, sense and reason beyond all other sorts of 
earthly creatures ? Hath he not preserved and supported 
you to this very hour? And do not your very lives this 
moment depend upon his goodness and mercy ? These 
are great obligations to love and thankfulness ; but what 
he hath done for your souls is of far greater value. Hath 
he not given you souls to he saved ? Hath he not brought 
you out of a land of darkness and ignorance, where your 
forefathers knew nothing of him, to a country where you 
may cpme to the knowledge of the only true God, and 
learn a sure way to heaven ? Hath he not shewn such 
wonderful love and kindness for your souls, as to send 
his only Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, to suffer death for 
your sakes, and to leave rules and directions behind him r 
which, if you follow, will bring you to everlasting happi- 
ness ? And hath he not so ordered it in his providence, 
that you should be taught those rules this holy day of his. 
own appointing, and at other times ? And will he not 
bestow heaven itself upon you, if you will make good 
use of the opportunities he hath given you of learning 
his laws, and living accordingly ? You see that Almighty 
God hath thought nothing too good for you, and surely 


8 


The Duties of Servants. 


you cannot think any love too great for him. Take good 
heed, therefore, that you do not let idleness and vanity, 
lust and sin, run away with those hearts and affections 
which you ought to bestow entirely upon so kind and 
good a God. For while you desire to do anything which 
is not lawful and good, you love that thing, whatever it is, 
better than you love God ; and, therefore, he will not 
love you: and the loss of God’s love is the dreadfulest 
loss that can happen to you. 

3. Another duty you owe to God, is fear. Now there 
are two sorts of fear, the one proceeding from love, and 
the other from terror. If we sincerely love any one, we 
are afraid of doing any thing that will make him uneasy ; 
and if we love God sincerely, we shall be afraid of doing 
any ill thing, because we know that his holy spirit is 
grieved at our wickedness. But if our love to God be not 
strong enough to make us afraid of grieving his holy 
spirit, the dread of his terrible judgments will surely keep 
us in awe. If men for your faults should be provoked 
to lash you immoderately; if your correction should be 
so severe as that you died under it, there would be an end 
to that suffering, and you could feel no more. But if you 
lead wicked lives, and provoke God to anger, he can not 
only, if he chooses, strike you dead upon the spot, or. 
cause you to die of some lingering disease, or painful 
distemper, but can also plunge your souls into hell-fire, 
there to remain in pain and torment for ever. Let this 
thought be strongly fixed in your heaits ; and when sinful 
desires arise in your minds, and evil inclinations begin to 
get the better, then remember that the great God is look- 
ing at you, and say within yourselves, as Joseph said, 
when he was tempted to sin by his wicked mistress — Hoiv 
can I do this great wickedness and sin against God ? Now 
Joseph, like you, was & slave ui a strange land— his temp- 
tation was very great— he was a young man and a slave ; 
but his fear of God was such, that he rather chose to suf- 
fer the consequences of his mistress’ rage, and to go to 
prison, where he remained several years, than to displease 
God by committing sin. Our blessed Saviour, speaking 
of this holy fear and dread of offending Almighty God, 
Saith — “ Fear not them which.kill the body, but are not 
able to kill the soul ; but rather fear him, which is able b> 
destroy both body and soul in hell.” 


The Duties of Servants. 


9 


4. Another duty you owe to Almighty God, is wor- 
ship — and this is of two sorts, public and private. Public 
worship is that devotion we pay to God at Church on 
Sundays and other holydays — and private worship , is that 
duty of prayer and thanksgiving which we offer to God 
at home. 

Private prayer is a duty which God expects from you, 
as much as from people of a higher rank. It were indeed 
much to be wished, that we had more praying families 
among us, where servants would have an opportunity of 
praying regularly every day; but there are few of you 
but can say the Lord’s Prayer, and that said over de- 
voutly, morning and evening, upon your knees, would 
bring down a blessing upon you and the family you be- 
long to. If you were to consider what prayer is— that it 
is speaking to Almighty God, and asking freely from him 
a supply of every thing that is needful for you, you sure- 
ly would be very fond of praying. And do not say that 
you want words, for if you want any favours from your 
masters and mistresses, you can find words plain enough 
to ask it from them. Now Almighty God invites you to 
come to him, and tells you, that you need but ask of him, 
and you shall have, seek and you shall find, knock and it 
shall be opened unto you. If, therefore, you ill not ask 
a blessing from him in prayer, you cannot expect to have 
it— if you will not seek for his favour, you cannot expect 
to find it— and if you will not take the trouble of knock- 
ing at the gate of heaven, you cannot hope to have it 
opened to let you in. It is not long prayers, nor a set 
of fine words, that God requires. But if the heart be 
desirous of obtaining any request, the tongue will find 
out voi ds to express it in ; and God who looks upon the 
heart m e than the tongue, will grant whatever you ask 
of him, if it be for your good. It is no matter how short 
you i' prayer is, if your heart go along with it. And any 
of you have sense enough to pray after this manner — 

“ Lord have mercy upon me, I am a great sinner : I 
have done such a thing, which I ought not to have done, 
and I am sorry for it. Spare me, good Lord, pardon me 
this once, for the sake of my Saviour Jesus Christ, and, by 
the blessing of God, 1 will do so no more.” 

“ Lord, give me grace, and make me a good man 1” 


10 The Duties of Servants. 

“ Lord, bless my master and mistress, and prosper the 
house I live in !” 

“ God bless me, and keep me from sin and danger!” 

“ Lord, make me truly thankful for thy great goodness 
to me !” 

“ Lord, make me your servant while I live, that when 
I die, 1 may remain in your house forever!” 

You can never want time for prayers of this sort : you 
can think of your souls, and pray thus either in the house 
or the held, whether you are up or in bed, or walking, or 
working; at the plough, the axe, the hoe, or the spade. 
And God is always ready to hear you. But remember 
this — that whenever you pray to God for grace, you must 
strive to be what you pray for. If you desire of God to 
be made good, or sober, or honest, or diligent, you must 
first of all strive to be that good, that sober, that honest, 
that dilig.-nt servant you desire to be, and then God will 
holp you with his grace in making you so. 

5. Another duty you owe to God is reverence and honour 
But many of you are so far from shewing any honour and 
respect to God Almighty, that you will curse, and swear, 
and blaspheme his name upon every little fit of passion, 
at any little silly thing that crosses your humour — and 
sometimes out of mere wantonness, when nothing dis- 
turbs you at all. Take care, my brethren, it is very dan- 
gerous sporting with the great and fearful name of the 
Lord our God : and lie hath threatened, that he will not 
hold that person guit V ess that taketh his name in vam — that 
is, that whosoever makes an irreverent use of his holy 
name by vain oaths, and cursing, and swearing, shall cer- 
tainly be punished for it, either in this world, or in the 
world to come. 

6. Another bury you owe to Almighty God, is truth. 
For God is a God of truth, and nates all lies and liars. 
The holy scr iptures are full of texts to this purpose, of 
which I shall repeat a few, to shew you what a sad thing 
it is to tell lies. In one place we are told by king Solo- 
mon, that lying lips are an, abomination to the Lord. Our 
Saviour himself tells us in another place, that the devil is 
a liar, and the father of it. And St. John tells us, that 
all liars shall have their 'part in the lake that burnetii with 
fire and brimestone ; that is, in hell. Now many of you 
think there is little harm in a lie ; but you see what a sad 


The Duties of Servants. 


11 


mistake it is. For you see, by what has been said, that if 
you have a mind to make yourselves hateful and abomi- 
nable to (lod — if you have a mind to become the devil’s 
own children — if you want to plunge yourselves headlong 
into hell, and wallow to all eternity in lire and brimstone, 
you need not but get a habit of lying, and it will as surely 
destroy your souls, as murder, fornication, adultery or any 
other sin. 


SEEMON SSI. 

Having thus shewn you the chief duties you owe to 
your great master in heaven, I come now to lay before 
you the duties you owe to your masters and mistresses 
here upon earth. 

And for this you have one general rule that you ought 
always to carry in your minds ; and that is, to do alt ser- 
vice for them, as if you did it for God himself. Poor 
creatures ! you little consider, when you are idle and 
neglectful of your master’s business — when you steal and 
waste, and huit any of their substance — when you are 
saucy and impudent — when you are telling them lies, and 
deceiving them —or when you prove stubborn or sullen, 
and will not do the work you are set about without stripes 
and vexation ; you do not consider, I say, that what faults 
you art* guilty of towards your masters and mistresses are 
faults done against God himself, who hath set your mas- 
ters and mistresses over you, in his own stead, and expects 
that you will do for them, just as you would do for him. 
And pray, do not think that I want to deceive you, when 
I tell you, that your masters and mistresses are God’s 
overseers ; and that if you are faulty towards them, God 
himself will punish you severely for it in the next world, 
unless you repent of it, and strive to make amends, by 
your faithfulness and diligence, for the time to come ; for 
God himself hath declared the same. And you have at 
the same time this comfort, that if any of your owners 
should prove wicked overseers, and use you, who are his 
under servants here, as they ought not to do, though you 


12 


The Duties of Servants. 


must submit to it, and can have no remedy in this world* 
yet, when God calls you and them together face to face 
before him in the next world, and examines into these 
matters, he will do you strict justice, and punish them that 
have been bad stewards and overseers over you with the 
greater seventy, as they had more of this world intrusted 
to their care: and that whatever you have suffered un- 
justly here, God will make you amends for it in heaven. 
Iwill now read over to you the rules which God hath 
given you, in his own words, that you may see what I say 
is truth. “Servants, be obedient to them that are your 
masters, according to the flesh, with fear and tiembling, in 
singleness of your heart as unto Christ ; not with eye ser- 
vice, as men-plea>ers, but as the servants of Christ, 
doing the will of God from the heart. With good will 
doing service, as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing, 
that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall 
lie receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And 
ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing, (or 
moderating) threatening; knowing that your master also 
is in heaven, neither is there respect of persons with him.” 

Now, from this great general rule, namely, that you are 
to do all service for your master and mistresses , as if you 
did it for God himself , there arise several other rules of 
duty towards your masters and mistresses, which I shall 
endeavour to lay in order before you. 

1. And in the first place, you are to he obedient and 
subject to your masters in all things. For the rules W’hich 
God hath left us in the scriptures are these : “ Servants, 
obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not 
with eye-service as men-pleasers, but in singleness of 
heart, fearing God : and whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, 
as to the Lord, and not unto men ; knowing, that of the 
Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for 
ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that doeth wrong shall 
receive for the wrong he hath done; and there is no re- 
spect of persons.* Servants, be subjected to your masters, 
with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, hut also to 
the froward.”t And Christian ministers are commanded 
to exhort servants to be obedient %mto their own masters, 
and to 'please them well in all things, not answering again, % 


Col. iii. 22-25. 


if Pet, ii. 18. 


t Tit. ii. 9. 


The Duties of Servants. 


13 


T)r murmuring, or gainsaying. You see how strictly God 
requires this of you, that whatever your masters and mis- 
tresses order you to do, you must set about it immediately, 
and faithfully perform it, without any disputing or grumb- 
ling, and take care to please them well in all things. And 
for ypur encouragement he tells you, that he will reward 
you for it in heaven, because, while you are honestly and 
faithfully d ingyour master’s business here, you are serv- 
ing your Lord and master in heaven. You see also, that 
you aie not to take any exceptions to the behaviour of 
your masters and mistresses, and that you are to be sub- 
ject and obedient, not only to such as are good, and gen- 
tle, and mild towards you, but also to such as may be 
frowai d, peevish, and hard. For you are not at liberty 
to choose your own masters, but into whatever hands God 
bath fieen pleased to put you, you must do your duty, 
and God will reward you for it. And if they neglect to 
do their’s, God will punish them for it : for there is no 
respect of persons with him. There is only one case, in 
which you may refuse obedience to your owners, and 
that is, if they should command you to do any sinful thing. 
As Joseph would not hearken to his mistress, when she 
temped him to sin with her. So that if any master could 
be so wicked as to command you to steal, ■a, murder, to 
set a neighbour’s house on fire, to do harm to any body’s 
goods, or cattle, or to get drunk, or to curse and swear, 
or to work on Sunday, (unless it should he in a case of 
great necessity) or to do any thing that God hath forbid- 
den, the re it is your duty to refuse them ; because God is 
your head master, and you must not do a thing which 
you know is contrary to his will. But in every thing else, 
you must obey your owners ; and God requires it of you. 

2. You are not to be eye-servants. Now eye-servants 
are such as will work hard, and seem mightily diligent, 
while they think that any body is taking notice of them, 
but when their masters and mistresses’ backs are turned, 
they are idle, and neglect their business. 

1 am afraid that there are a great many such eye-ser- 
vants among you, and that you do not consider how great 
a sin it is to be so, and how severely God will punish you 
for it. You may easily deceive your owners, and make 
them have an opinion of you that you do not deserve, 
and get the praise of men by it. But remember, that 
2 


14 


The Duties of Servants. 


you cannot deceive Almighty God, who sees your wick* 
edness and deceit, and will punish you accordingly. For 
the rule is, that you must obey your masters in all things, 
and do the work they set you about until fear and trem- 
bling, in singleness of heart, as unto Christ, not with eye- 
service, as men pleasers, but as the scruants of C 'lvrist, doing 
the will of God from the heart. : With good will doing 
service, as to the Lord, and not as to men. If, then, you 
would but think, and say within yourselves — “ My mas- 
ter hath set me about (his work, and his back is turned, 
so that I may loiter and idle if I please, for he does not 
see me. But there is my great master in heaven, whose 
overseer my other master is, and his eyes are always upon 
me, and taking notice of me, and 1 cannot get anywhere 
out of his sight, nor be idle without his knowing it, and 
what will become of me if I lose his good will, and make 
him angry with me.” If, I say, you would once get the 
way of thinking and saying thus, upon all occasions, you 
would then do what God commands you, and serve your 
masters with singleness of heart, that is, with honesty 
and sincerity ; you would do the work you are set about 
with fear and trembling ; not for fear of your masters 
and mistresses upon earth (for you may easily cheat them, 
and make ttf^ni believe you are doing their business 
when you do not) but with fear and trembling, lest God, 
your heavenly master, whom you cannot deceive, should 
call you to account, and punish you in the next world, for 
your deceit/ illness, and eye-service in this. 

3. You are to bo faithful and honest to your masters 
and mistresses, not purloining* (or wasting their goods or 
substances) but shewing all good fidelity in all things. 

If you were to rob or steal from others, you know that 
it would he a very had thing, and how severely the law 
would punish you for it. But if your master is robbed of 
what belongs to him by your wastefulness or negligence, 
do not you think that it is wicked ? For pray what is the 
difference to me, when my substance is gone, whether a 
thiel took it away from me, or whether l am robbed of it 
by my servants’ negligence? The loss is the same, and 
they will have it to answer for. How then can many of 
you be so careless about your masters’ business ? How 


* Tit. ii. 10. 


The Duties of Servants. 


15 


can you be so unfaithful and wicked, as to see their sub- 
stance perish and be lost, when a little of your timely 
care would prevent the loss ? Is not this a very common, 
case among you ? And do not most masters complain, 
with great justice, that unless they happen to see into 
every thing themselves, their servants will take no care ? 
Nay, even when they are told of it, and ordered to do it, 
they will still neglect, and let the goods perish? Do not 
your masters, under God, provide for you? And how 
shall they be able to do this, to feed and to clothe you, 
unless you take honest cafe of every thing that belongs to 
them? Remember that God requires this of you, and if 
you are not afraid of suffering for it here, you cannot es- 
cape the vengeance of Almighty God, who will judge 
between you and your masters, and make you pay se- 
verely in the next world for all the injustice you do them 
here. And though you should manage so cunningly as 
to escape the eyes and bands of man, yet think what a 
dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, 
who is able to cast both sold and body into hell. 

4. You are to serve your masters with cheerfulness , reve- 
rence and humility. You are to do your masters service 
with good will , doing it as the will of God, from the heart, 
without any sauciness or answering again. How many 
of you do things quite otherwise, and, instead of going 
about your work with a good will and a good heart, dis- 
pute and grumble ; give saucy answers, and behave in a 
surly manner? There is something so becoming and 
engaging in a modest, cheerful, good-natured behavior, 
that a little work done in that manner, seems better done, 
and gives far more satisfaction, than a great deal more 
that must be done with fretting, vexation, and the lash 
always held over you. It also gains the good will and 
love of those you belong to, and makes your own life 
pass with more e.ase and pleasure. Besides, you are to 
consider, that this grumbling and ill-will does not affect 
your masters and mistresses only : they have ways and 
means in their hands of forcing you to do }'our work, 
whether you are willing or not. But your murmuring 
and grumbling is against God, who hath placed you in 
that service, who will punish you severely in the next 
world for despising his commands. 


16 


The Duties of Servants. 


Thus 1 have endeavoured to shew you, why you ought 
to serve God, and what duty in particular you owe him : 
I have also shewn you, that while you are serving your 
masters and mistresses, or doing any thing that God hath 
commanded, you are at the same time serving him; and 
have endeavoured to shew you what duty or service you 
owe to your owners, in obedience to God, and that in so 
plain a manner, as I hope the greatest part of you did 
well understand. The other parts of your duty, and the 
rewards which God hath promised to you (if you will 
honestly set about doing it) I Shall endeavour to lay be- 
fore you at our next meeting here for that purpose. In 
the mean time, consider well what hath been said. Think 
upon it, and talk about it one with another, and strive to 
fix it on your memories. And may God of his infinite 
mercy grant, that it may sink deep into your hearts, and 
taking root theie, may bring forth in you the fruit of 
good living, to the honor a d praise of his holy name, the 
spreading abroad of bis gospel, and the eternal salvation 
of your precious souls, through our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ ; to w hom, with the Father, and the Holy 
Spirit, be all honor and glory, world without end. — Amen. 


SERMON IV. 

"When you were last here, I endeavoured to show you, 
that God made you and all the world, and that lie made 
you and all mankidd to serve him ; that it is he who pla- 
ces every man in the station or rank which he holds in 
the world, making some kings, some masters and mis- 
tresses, some tradesmen and working people, and others 
servants and slaves; that every one of us is obliged to do 
the business he hath set us about, in that state or condi- 
tion of life to which he hath been pleased to call us ; and 
that whoever is doing his business quietly and honestly in 
the world, and living as a Christian ought to do, is serv- 
ing of God, though his condition be ever so low ami mean; 
and will he as much tak'-n notice of, and as highly fa- 
voured by God at the last day, as the greatest prince 


The Duties of Servants. 


17 


upon earth, for God is no respecter of persons. I also 
laid before you, that you ought to serve God for your own 
sakes, because you have souls to be saved, and if you 
should lose them, you are undone for ever: that every 
one who dies, and goes into another world, must go either 
to heaven or hell ; and that there is no other way of es- 
caping everlasting punishment in hell, or being eternally 
happy in heaven, but by serving God while he spares our 
life upon earth. 

I then went on to shew you, what duty you owe to God 
in particular, that you ought to look upon him as your 
great and chief master, to whom you must one day an- 
swer for every thing you have done in this life ; that he 
is always looking upon you, and taking notice of your 
behaviour, so that if you could deceive all the world, you 
cannot deceive God : that you ought to love God above 
all things, or else he will not love you, which would be 
the most dreadful thing tiiat could happen to you ; that if 
you love God sincerely, you will be afraid of doing any 
thing that is had, because bis holy spirit is grieved to see 
men destroy their souls by their wickedness : that if the 
love of God is not strong enough to keep you from doing 
what is bad, and vexing and offending him thereby, you 
ought, at least, to dread his terrible judgments ; for that he 
is able not only to destroy your bodies, and strike you dead 
in a moment, but also to cast both body and soul into hell t 
which will certainly he the portion of all such as provoke 
him to anger by leading wicked lives : that you ought to 
Worship God both in public arid in private: in pub i c, by 
going to Church as often as you have leave and opportu- 
nity; and in private, by praying to him for every thing 
you want, and giving him thanks for all bis goodness to 
you, which you may easily do. when you are walking, or 
working, in the house, or in the field : that you ought to 
reverence anti honour Almighty God, and keep from all 
cursing and swearing, or making any light, foolish, vain 
use of his great and holy name: and that you must keep 
from all Iving, because God hates all such as tells lies, 
and will give them over to the devil, who is the father of 
all lies and liars. 

In the next place I endeavoured to shew you, how you 
ought to behave towards your masters and mistresses; 
and to make it plain to you, that as God himself hath set 

2 * 


18 


The Duties of Servants . 


them over you here in the nature of his stewards or over- 
seers, he expects you will do every thing for them, as 
you do for himself: that you must be obedient and sub- 
ject to them in all things, and do whatever they order 
you to do, unless it should be some wicked tiling which 
you knew that God hath forbidden, in which case you are 
to refuse, but in no other : that you must not be eye-ser- 
vants, that is, such as will be very busy in their masters’ 
presence, but very idle when their backs are turned : for 
your head master, Almighty God, is looking on you, and 
though you may escape being found out or punished by 
your owners for it, yet you cannot deceive God, who will 
punish you severely for it in the next world for your 
deceitful dealing in this : that you must be faithful and 
honest to your masters and mistresses, not wasting their 
substance, or letting any thing belonging to them perish 
for want of your care, because that is next to stealing, 
for the master’s loss is the same as if he had been robbed 
of it : and that you are to serve your owners with cheer- 
fulness, respect, and humility, not grumbling, or giving 
any saucy answers, but doing your work with readiness, 
mildness and good nature, because your sauciness and 
grumbling is not so much against your owners, as it is 
against God himself, who hath plaeed you in that ser- 
vice, and expects you will do the business of it as he hath 
commanded you. 

III. I now come to shew you, as I promised in my last 
sermon, what is the. duty or behaviour you owe to your 
felloio servants and others. 

And you are to take notice, that the great rule which 
Almighty God hath given us in this case, is to love one 
another. I will read to you his own words, as we have 
them in the holy scripture. “A new commandment I 
give unto you, that ye love one another; by this shall all 
men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one 
to another.* This is my commandment, that ye love 
one another, as 1 have loved you.t Thou shalt love thy 
neighbour as thyself.f Be kindly affectionate one to 
another with brotherly love.§ Owe no man any thing, 
hut to love one another. || By love serve one another-; 

* John xiii. 34, 35 ; Matt. xxii. 39. t John xv. 12 . 

f Lev. xix. 18 § Rom. xii. 10. || Rom. xiii. 8.. 


The Duties of Servants. 


19 


for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even this, thou 
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”* You see, then, 
how strongly God Almighty insists upon it, that all Chris- 
tians do love one another, and makes it the great mark 
by which his faithful servants may be known from others, 
who have no such rule made known to them. By this 
(saith our Saviour) shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples, if ye have luve one to another. And to shew us 
how heartily and sincerely he would have us to love one 
another, he commands us to love one another, even as he 
loved its — to be kindly affectionate one to another , with 
brotherly love. To love our neighbours, that is, all with 
whom we have any kind of dealing, even as we love 
ourselves. Now there are many reasons why we should 
all love one another, and the chief reason is, what I told 
you of before, that we are all one large family, under 
Almighty God, our maker and great master, who, there- 
fore, commands us all to love one another, as fellow ser- 
vants and brothers ought to do. Have we not all one 
father ? hath not one God created us ? saith one of God’s 
holy prophets. And if we mind this one gieat rule of 
loving one another, we shall do every thing which God 
requires of us towards all men. For, as the word of God 
saith, all the law, that is, all the law relating to men’s 
dealings with one another, is fulfilled in one word , even in 
this — thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself . f 

To make this rule as plain as I can to you, do but 
think within yourselves what you would do for any per- 
son you really had a love and affection for. Would you 
not do them all the good, and shew them all the kindness 
you could ? Would you not he very sorry to give them 
any trouble and vexation l Would you not keep from 
doing them any sort of harm yourself, and hinder other 
people from doing them any wrong or hurt ? And would 
not your love to them make you as careful of them, and 
as unwilling to hurt them, as if they were your nearest 
relations! This consideration will lead you into a true 
notion of what is meant by those rules in the holy scrip- 
tures, where God Almighty commands us to love one ano- 
ther — to be kindly aff< ctionate one to another, with brotherly 
love — to love our neighbours as ourselves, and such like* 


Gal. v. 13, 14. 


t Matt. ii. 10. 


20 


The Duties of Servants. 

And to make this command still plainer, our blessed Sa- 
viour, Jesus Christ, hath left this other rule to the same 
purpose — All things whatsoever ye would that mm should 
do to you, do you even so to them* that is, do by all man- 
kind just as you would desire they should do by you, if 
you were in their place, and they in yours. 

Now, to suit this rule to your particular circumstances ; 
suppose you were masters and mistresses, and had ser- 
vants under you, would you not desire that your servants 
should do their business faithfully and honestly, as well 
when your back was turned, as while you were looking 
over them? Would you not expect that they should 
take notice of what you said to them ? That they should 
behave themselves with respect towards you and yours, 
and be as careful of every thing belonging to you as you 
would be yourselves? You are servants — do, therefore, 
as you would wish to be done by, and you will both be 
good servants to your masters, and good servants to God, 
who requires this of you, and will reward you well for it, 
if you do it for the sake of conscience in obedience to 
his command. 

Again — suppose that you were people of some sub- 
stance, and had something ofyour own in the world, would 
you not desire to keep what you had ? and that nobody 
should take it from you, without your consent, or hurt 
any tiling belonging to you ? If, then, you love your 
neighbour as yourself, or would do by others as you could 
wish they would do by you, you will learn to be honest 
and just towards all mankind, ns well as to your masters 
and mistresses, and not steal, or take away any thing 
from any one, without his knowledge or consent : you 
will he as careful not to hurt tiny thing belonging to a 
neighbour, or to do any harm to his goods, his cattle, or 
his plantation, or to see it done by others, as you would 
be to hurt youiself, or any thing you had of your own: 
and will behave yourselves towards all mankind with the 
same honesty and good will, as you could wish they would 
do to you in the like case. 

Your fellow sei vants are more particularly to be looked 
upon as your brethren ; your common station, as slaves, 
your complexion, and your marriages one among another 


* Matt. vii. 12. 


The Duties of Servants. 


21 


in different families, make you nearer to each other than 
all the world, except your owners. And poor and igno- 
rant as you are, you may do much good, and prevent 
much harm, by behaving one towards another as brothers 
and sisters ought to do, and as God requires of you. And, 
considering all tilings, you must be miserable creatures 
indeed, if you will not be loving and affectionate, kind 
and honest among yourselves. But for fear you should 
mistake my meaning, 1 will first describe to you what 
true love and affection is, and then endeavour to shew 
you, in particular, how you ought to behave one towards 
another. 

That person is truly loving and affectionate to another, 
who is ready at all times to do any thing for him that is 
really for his good, and to prevent any harm or disadvan- 
tage from happening to him. Now, if you bear this sort 
of love towards one another, and do accordingly, you 
will, indeed, as God has commanded, be kindly affection- 
ate one to another, with brotherly love. 

If you will but consider that a man is doing himself 
the greatest good, while he is doing what Almighty God 
is pleased with ; and that no one can do himself greater 
harm than by doing any thing that will provoke God to 
be angry with him, you cannot be at a loss how to shew 
the truest love and affection to any of your brethren and 
fellow servants. Your poverty and low station in life, 
hinders you from giving much comfort or support to their 
bodies, any farther than, perhaps, a little help in their 
labours, when you have nothing to do yourselves, or by 
shewing good nature to them, or by a kind care arid ten- 
derness towards them in their sickness, when they are 
not able to take care of themselves, and want help front 
those that are about them : but to their precious souls 
you may do great good, and by so doing, gain the great- 
est benefit to yourselves. 

Suppose any of you to have been wicked creatures— 
idle, drunken, sweating, thievish, lewd people ; and being 
at length overtaken by the hand of God, and laid down 
on a painful sick-bed, without any hopes of recovery, 
with all the terrors of conscience about you, and nothing 
before you but death, and the fearful apprehension of 
being miserable for ever, what a dreadful state of mind 
must you then be in ! And what would you then give, 


22 The Duties of Servants. 

that you had been blessed with a true friend in your for- 
mer days, one that bad so much real love for you, as to 
have warned you of your danger, and have hindered you, 
by' bis kind advice, Irom running such lengths of wicked- 
ness as you had done 1 And would you not then think, 
that such a friend would have been of more value to you, 
than the whole world ? You have it in your power to be 
such true friends and lovers one to another : and though 
you can give but little bodily help, you can do what is 
far better — you can help each other on in the way toward 
heaven. You can, nay, you ought to check one another 
when you see any thing doing amiss : you can encourage 
each other in doing what is right and good : you can pray 
together, and you can pray for one another: you can, on 
a Sunday evening, talk about the good advice you have 
heard in Church, and by telling it to such as could not 
be there, may do them much good, and, at the same time, 
by thus repeating these things, they will be the stronger 
fixed in your own memory, so as to be of lasting set vice 
to yourselves : you can, by a good example, prevent a 
great deal of wickedness and indecency in your meetings 
and conversations one among another : and where you 
find that your sober, friendly advice, will do no good with 
them, you may terrify your cempanions from doing bad 
things, by threatening to complain of them ; and by such 
means as these you may help to save their souls, and get 
a blessing upon yourselves and families. But, oh, my 
brethren, I am grieved to say it, you are so far from 
doing this, that I lear many of you rather encourage and 
help one another on in wickedness, and go hand in hand 
toward destruction, rather than strive to assist one ano- 
ther in the way to heaven. 

There is one sort of love and charity you may, how- 
ever, perform to the wickedest of your acquaintances 
and fellow servants, arid that is, to pray for them. God 
may, perhaps, hear your prayers in their behalf, and 
toucli their hearts, though you cannot ; arid that would be 
a great blessing both to them and to you. But if they 
should, alter all, continue so wicked as not to deserve any 
mercy or grace from God, vour prayers will not be lost, 
for God will place them to your own account, and you 
will have the reward for your kind and pious intentions 
towards your unhappy brother. 


The Duties of Servants. 


23 


SERMON V. 

Besides good, advice, there is another great duty you 
owe lo your brethren, and that is, good example. If they 
will not mind ivhat you say, they cannot help taking no- 
tice of wha> you do: and, perhaps, the shame of seeing 
so great a difference between their own behaviour and 
yours, may put them upon striving to be like you. For 
there is something so engaging in a regular, sober, modest , 
pious behaviour, that none but exceeding wicked people, 
or sucli as have laid aside all thoughts of goodness, that 
can see it without wishing to be like the person that has 
so many good qualities. How happy are they that have 
examples of this sort set before their eyes ! And how 
much more happy, if they would seiiously, and in earnest, 
strive to follow such examples. 

Many of you are married, and have numbers of chil- 
dren. You surely owe them good examples. Many of 
these children, who ate bred up in quarters, see little 
but what you shew them : so that if you set bad examples 
before them, you may be sure they will do the like, and 
your wickedness will not only destroy your own souls, but 
will teach your children to do the same; and, by thus 
going before them, lead them as it were by the hand, in 
the direct road to hell. A sad and grievous reflection ! 
that a bad example shall not only bring yourselves into 
everlasting misery, but your poor unhappy offspring 
also ! Whereas, if you behave yourselves well, and set 
a good example befor% them, you shall save your own 
souls, through (lie mercy of God, and give your little 
ones cause to bless you after your death, for shewing 
them the way to be happy in another world, and of get- 
ting possessions there, of far greater value than the whole 
world you live in. 

If, then, it be so much your duty to give good advice, 
and good examples to your fellow-servants, how great 
must be the sin of tempting and persuading any one to 
wickedness? It is the devil’s own office, and what he 
delights in, is to make people wicked ; so that whoever 
strives by advice, or persuasion, to make others bad, is so 
far doing the devil’s own business. If, therefore, you 
entice or persuade a fellow-servant to lie, or swear for 


24 


The Duties of Servants. 


you — to help you to deceive your owners or others — to 
cheat, to rob, or steal, for supporting your idleness — to 
get drunk with you, or partake with you in any sort of 
wickedness — do you not think that God will not only 
punish you for your own faults, but also, upon account of 
those others whom you wickedly draw into sin ? Is it not 
enough for you to destroy your own souls, without put- 
ting others into the way of damnation? Take care then, 
my brethren, that you do not bring the blood of others 
upon your own heads; for to murder the poor soul, by 
causing any one to sin, is the worst of all murders. 

After taking so much pains to shew you how sincerely 
you ought to love one another, and all mankind, you may 
easily see that Almighty God will be exceedingly angry 
with you, if you be ill-natured and spiteful, malicious, or 
evil inclined towards your fellow-servants or any others. 
For our Lotd and Saviour Jesus Christ is so tar from 
suffering any of his disciples, or such as pretend to be 
Christians, to bear any hatred or ill-will in their hearts, 
that he commands us to love the very worst of our ene- 
mies, and such as are striving to do us a mischief. The 
rule he hath given us is this : I say unto you, loveyovr ene- 
mies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate 
you, and pray for them that despitcfully use you, and per- 
secute you* And the reason he gives for it is this, that ye 
may be the children of your father which is in heaven ; for 
he maheth his sun to rise upon the evil, and on the good, and 
sendeih his rain upon the just arid upon the unjust. That 
is, that we may shew ourselves to be the children of God, 
by being like him, who is so goo4> that he does not take 
away the comfort of the sun and rain, nor the common 
blessings of this life, even from wicked people, who are 
always provoking him, and do not deserve the least of 
his mercies to them. Besides, he hath given us the great- 
est encouragement to forgive eveiy one that does us any 
harm or mischief, by promising to forgive us our sins 
against him, upon that account. And hath, at the same 
lime, threatened, that if we will be of a malicious, re- 
vengeful temper, and bear spite and anger in our hearts, 
he never will forgive us : and without his pardon, the 
very best of us must be lost and undone forever. For if, 


* Matt. v. 44, 45. 


The Duties of Servants. 


25 


saith our Saviour, ye forgive men their trespasses, your 
heavenly father will also forgive you : but if ye forgive 
not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly father 
forgive your trespasses.* 

IY. Having thus set before you the duty you owe to 
•your fellow servants and others, I shall now endeavour 
to shew you the duty you owe to yourselves. 

And here let me ask you a short, plain question — do 
you love yourselves ? Now you look surprised, as if you 
thought I asked you some strange thing, and out of the 
way ; but let me put it to you again — do you really love 
yourselves ? You will say, to be sure we do ; for there is 
nobody but what love themselves better than they love 
any one else. I heartily wish, my brethren, that this 
were true ; for then most people would live in a very 
different manner. But, indeed, there is not a word in 
the world that people in general abuse more, or are more 
mistaken about than that one word love. So that a think- 
ing person would be apt to fancy, that nine in ten who 
talk of it, do not know the meaning of it. Some people 
will call it love to a neighbour, when they are making him 
drunk, destroying his time, debauching his mind, and 
making a mere beast of him. 

And poor deluded creatures will think they love them- 
selves, while they are doing that for the sake of a little 
present pleasure, which will make them liable to lasting 
pain and punishment. But pray mind what I am going 
to say, and I will endeavour to’ make it out plainly to 
your understandings, that every Christian who truly 
loves himself, must needs go to heaven, and that no man 
ever yet went, or will go, to hell, but for want of loving 
himself as he ought to do. 

You know, that every one of us have souls to be saved, 
as well as bodies to be taken care of : and as the soul is 
the better and more precious part, we ought to love it 
best. For if the soul be safe in Paradise, the body is 
safe enough ; for in that case, although it be laid in the 
ground to rot, and become meat for worms, or turn into 
dust, yet it shall rise again at the last day, and then be 
received together with the soul, into the joys of heaven. 
But if the soul be lost the body will perish too, and be 

* Matt. vi. 14, 15. 


3 


26 


The Duties of Servants. 


oast into hell along with it, at the great day of judgment. 
If, therefore, a man loves his soul, so as to take due care 
of it, he certainly loves himself, as he ought to do ; for in 
so doing, he secures eternal happiness both to his soul 
and body. But if he loves his body better than his soul, 
and runs into wickedness to satisfy the desires of that 
worse part, he cannot be said to love himself truly, be- 
cause, by so doing he ruins both forever. 

Suppose a man should break open a house, or rob upon 
the high road — foolish people might think he loved him- 
self, because he could make merry, and enjoy himself, as 
he foolishly calls it, with the money. But suppose this 
man should be taken up, and condemned to be hanged 
for what he had done ; pray, would not the silliest of you 
be ready enough to say, that if he had any true love for 
himself, he would have taken care not to come to that 
shameful, untimely end I This is exactly the case of 
sin against God, only with this difference, that a robber 
or murderer may have a chance of escaping the hands of 
men ; but no sinner can escape the hand of God. If, 
therefore, a man should have all sorts of pleasure at 
command, while he lived in this world ; denying himself 
nothing that his heart wished for, but living in mirth and 
jollity all his days, and, for want of minding his soul, 
should, at his death, be shut out of heaven ; surely any 
one, that hath the least understanding or common sense 
must say, that such a one, after all the pains he took to 
please his body, never had any truelovefor himself, or he 
would have taken some heed that he might not come to 
such a dreadful end. 

Do you, therefore, my brethren, bear this in mind, and 
take heed, that whatever becomes of your bodies here, 
be sure that your souls be taken care of; and then, you 
will, indeed, love yourselves as you ought to do. So that 
you see, the chief duty you owe to yourselves, is, to take 
care of your souls. And in order to do this. 

1 . Strive to come to the knowledge of God, and to learn 
your duty to him ; for this is beyond all other knowledge. 
And, indeed, he that knows just as much as will help to 
carry him to heaven, knows as much as the wisest man 
upon earth need know : whereas, if a man had more 
learning than the whole nation he lived in besides, and 
was ever so much admired for his wisdom among men 


27 


The Duties of Servants. 

yet if he neglected the true knowledge, and lost heaven 
with all his learning, he would prove to be a very fool. 
Come, therefore, to Church as often as you can, for in 
this place you are most likely to learn this heavenly 
knowledge. If you hear any thing that you do not un- 
derstand and want to be informed, come to me when you 
have opportunity, and you know 1 am always ready and 
glad to instruct you. Inquire of your fellow servants 
that you think know better-, and talk much and often with 
them, about the means of getting to heaven. When you 
cannot come to Church, ask those that have been there, 
what good advice they have heard, and put them upon 
remembering it to their own benefit, by telling it to you. 
Beg of your masters and mistresses , or your overseers, 
to teach you to say your prayers ; to instruct you in the 
catechism, and to shew you how you ought to serve God. 
If you want a meal’s meat, or any piece of clothing, you 
can readily ask them ; and why not, for what is far bet- 
ter ; and will cost them less ; I mean, for nourishment and 
comfort to your souls? 

Often fall down upon your knees before Almighty God 
and pray to him, that he will send you the means of in- 
struction and open your understanding, that you may 
choose what is right and good: and be sure, when God 
puts good opportunities in your way, that you make a 
right use of them, and let nothing slip you, which may 
be useful to your souls, and help you on towards eternal 
happiness. 

2. Make a good use of your leisure time. You will 
say, perhaps, that you have very little of it. Well, if 
you have the less, God will require the less of you ; but 
he expects that you should make a good use of that little. 
If the week-days afford you very little leisure, the Sun- 
days, at least, are your own in a great measure. Al- 
mighty God, in his great wisdom and goodness hath given 
one day in seven to you for your comfort and refreshment, 
and for serving him in and learning your duty, and it is 
confirmed to you by the laws of the country ; so that no 
master or mistress can take it from you (unless in a case 
of absolute necessity) without offending against the laws 
of God and man. And sure, you cannot say you want 
leisure. 


28 


The Duties of Servants . 


In all the observations I have made upon mankind, I 
have generally found, that when they complained of want 
of leisure, they commonly meant, they had not as much 
time to themselves as they could wish for, to throw away 
in idleness and diversion, or in pursuit of their sinful plea- 
sures ; and this, I am afraid, is your case, for I have re- 
marked to you before, how abominably you spend your 
leisure time ; and instead of doing good to each other, 
and encouraging one another to do your duty, and be- 
have like Christians, you rather tempt, provoke and entice 
each other to sin, and waste the little time God spares 
you, for serving and honouring him, in the service and 
work of his, and your own greatest enemy, the devil ; for 
whenever you are doing wickedly, you are serving that 
grand destroyer. Take care then, and lay out your lei- 
sure time to better purpose for the future ; and though 
you had much less than you really have, yet, by a good 
use of it, you may have time enough to save your souls, 
and you really want no more. 

3. Strive by all means to get into God's favour : for that 
is the only way to true happiness. Remember what I 
told you before, that God loves none but those that are 
good, and hates none but those that are wicked. Endeav- 
our, therefore, to be good, that God may love you, and 
keep you from doing what is evil, for fear he should hate 
you. And that you may be certain of getting into God’s 
favour, remember what I now tell you, that you must 
first put away all sin and wickedness before he will 
hearken to you, or look upon you ; and the way to do 
this, is by repentance and amendment. You must first 
repent, and put away evil from your heart and affections , 
by a true sorrow for your past offences ; by forsaking 
those sins which you knpw have made you hateful to 
God, and by resolving fully and sincerely, by his help, 
never to do the like again : then falling upon your knees, 
and begging his pardon for what you have done amiss, 
make sincere promises to him of your amendment for the 
future, praying for his grace and blessing upon your en- 
deavours to serve him. And then strive to put away the 
evil from your actions, by labouring to keep from what is 
bad, and to do what you know is right and good. This 
method cannot fail of procuring you the favour of God, 


The Duties of Servants. 


29 


which is of more worth than the possession of the whole 
world without it. 


SERMON VI. 

I shall make an end of what I proposed to say con- 
cerning your duty to God, to your masters, to your fel- 
low-servants and others, and to yourselves, by giving you 
a few needful cautions — and, 

First, take care not to be deceived with a foolish no- 
tion, that being baptized and coming sometimes to Church, 
will be sufficient to bring you to heaven : for you cannot 
pj&ssibly fall into a worse mistake. 

I am afraid, there are too many in the world, of all 
sorts, who thus deceive themselves, to the great hazard 
of their immortal souls. But remember what I now teli 
you, thafour blessed Saviour will own none to be his at 
the last day, but such as have faithfully and honestly en- 
deavoured to do what he hath commanded. We are 
called Christians after the name of Christ, and because 
we profess ourselves to be his servants and disciples. But 
surely we cannot expect that he should pay us wages, 
and provide for us in heaven, as belonging to his family, 
unless we do his work. Nay, he hath declared in plain 
terras, that not every one that called, him Lord, Lord, shall 
enter into the kingdom of heaven * but only such as shall d< 
the will of his heavenly father. You see then, that there 
is a great difference between a Christian in name, and a 
Christian in deed ; so great a difference, that ncne but 
those who are Christians in deed shall be received into 
heaven; while all such as pretend to believe in Christ, 
and, at the same time, neglect his service, and do wick- 
edly, shall be shut out of heaven, and have their portion 
with the devil and his angels. Our blessed Saviour, 
speaking of the dreadful day of judgment, when all man- 
kind, both the living and the dead, shall stand before him 
to receive the reward of their deeds, makes use of these 


3 * 


Matt. vii. 21 


30 The Duties of Servants. 

very words : Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, 
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name ? and in thy name 
have cast out devils ? and in thy name have done many won- 
derful works l And then will I profess unto them, I never 
knew you ; depart from me, ye that work iniquity .* If, 
therefore, you would be Christians in deed, you must re- 
member that baptism is no more than the entrance into 
Christianity, the gate which opens into the road towards 
heaven, so that when you are baptized, you are but just 
put into the way, and if you stop there you will still be 
as far from eternal happiness as when you first set out : 
and you cannot surely hope to reach heaven, unless you 
push forward, and strive to get nearer and nearer, by 
growing better and better. If, besides what hath been 
said, you will but consider that every good thing we do, 
is making a step farther towards God, and that every wil- 
ful sin we commit carries us a degree farther towards hell 
than we were before, you will easily understand how 
people may be baptized, and go often to Church, and 
call themselves Christians as long as the}” live ; yet, if 
they never take care to do what they promised in bap- 
tism ; if they'seldom or never mind what they hear in 
Church, or if, instead of behaving like Christians, and 
serving God, they work wickedness, and follow their 
own evil inclinations — you will, I say, easily see how 
such people, notwithstanding the Christianity they pro- 
fess, and pretend to, will be so far from gaining heaven, 
that our Saviour assures us they shall lose their own 
souls, and be ruined and undone for ever. 

2. Take good heed, that you be not draivn aside by t/u 
evil examfle or counsel of others, or that you do not deceive 
yourselves, by thinking that you are safe enough while you 
do no worse than some that ought to know better than your- 
selves. 

It is a very sad and melancholy truth, that the world 
every where abounds with bad examples, and that where 
one person strives to do his duty to the best of his know- 
ledge, there are ten who sin with their eyes open, and 
do things which their own consciences tell them are 
wrong. I have just now shewn you how to know a true 
Christian from one that is only a Christian in name. 


Matt. vii. 22, 23. 


The Duties of Servants. 


31 


Whenever, therefore, you see any one doing wicked 
things, or behaving disorderly, take no example by him; 
he is going the wrong way himself, and it is not fit for you 
to follow him, except you have a mind to destroy your- 
self, and be undone for ever. The white people who are 
bred up in the profession of Christianity from their cra- 
dles, and have better education and opportunities than 
you can pretend to, ought to know better ; but, 1 am 
sorry to say it, there ^re many of them whose examples 
would be very dangerous ones for you to follow : I pray, 
God grant them more consideration, and a due sense of 
their own sad condition ; and that you may have the un- 
derstanding to perceive the evil of their ways, and grace 
to avoid doing such things. 

3. Take care that you do not fret or murmur, grumble 
or repine at your condition ; for this will not only make 
your own life uneasy, but will greatly offend Almighty 
God. Consider, that it is not yourselves, it is not the 
people you belong to — it is not the men that have brought 
you to it ; but it is the will of God, who hath, by his 
Providence, made you servants, because, no doubt, he 
knew that condition would be best for you in this world, 
and help you the better toward heaven, if you would but 
do your duty in it. So that any discontent at your not 
being free, or rich, or great, as you see some others, is 
quarrelling with your heavenly master, and finding fault 
with God himself, who hath made you what you are, and 
hath promised you as large a share in the kingdom of 
heaven as the greatest man alive, if you will but behave 
yourself aright, and do the business he hath set you about 
in the world honestly and cheerfully. Riches and power 
have proved the ruin of many an unhappy soul, by draw- 
ing away the heart and affections from God, and fixing 
them upon mean and sinful enjoyments ; so that when 
God, who knows our hearts better than we know them 
ourselves, sees that they would be hurtful to us, and 
therefore keeps them from us, it is the greatest mercy 
and kindness he could shew to us. You may perhaps 
fancy, that if you had riches and freedom, you could do 
your duty to God and man with greater pleasure than you 
can do now : but pray consider, that if you can but save 
your souls, through the mercy of God, you will have 
spent your time to the best of purposes in this world : 


32 


The Duties of Servants. 


and he that at the last can get to heaven, has performed 
a noble journey, let the road be ever so rugged or diffi 
cult. Besides, you really have a great advantage over 
most white people, who have not only the care of their 
daily labour upon their hands, but the care of looking 
forward, and providing necessaries for the morrow and 
next day, and of clothing and bringing up their children, 
and of getting food and raiment for as many of you as 
belong to their families, which often put them to great 
difficulties and distracts their minds, so as to break their 
rest, and take off their thoughts from the affairs of another 
world : whereas you are quite eased from all these cares, 
and have nothing but your daily labour to look after, and 
when that is done to take your needful rest. Neither is 
it necessary for you to think of laying up anything against 
old age, as white people are obliged to do; for the laws 
of the country have provided that you shall not be turned 
off when you are past your labour, but shall be maintain- 
ed, while you live, by those you belong to, whether you 
are able to work or not. And these are great and real 
advantages, for which if you consider things rightly, you 
cannot but thank Almighty God, who hath so wisely pro- 
vided for your well-being here, and your eternal happi- 
ness hereafter. There is only one circumstance which 
may appear grievous, that I shall now take notice of, and 
that is correction. Now, when correction is given you. 
you either deserve ir., or do not deserve it. But whether 
you really deserve it or not, it is your duty, and Almighty 
God requires, that you bear it patiently. You may, per- 
haps, think that this is hard doctrine, but if you consider 
it right, you must needs think otherwise of it. Suppose 
then, that you deserve correction, you cannot but say that 
it is just and right you should meet with it. Suppose you 
do not, or at least, you do not deserve so muc'h, or so 
severe a correction' for the fault you have committed, you 
perhaps, have escaped a great many more, and are at last 
paid for all. Or suppose you are quite innocent of what 
is laid to your charge, and suffer wrongfully in that par- 
ticular thing, is it not possible you may have done some 
other bad thing that never was discovered ; and that Al- 
might}' God, who saw you doing it, would not let you es- 
cape without punishment onetime or another? And 
ought you not in such a case to give the glory to him, 


The Duties of Servants. 


33 


and be thankful that he would rather punish you in this 
life for your wickedness, than destroy your souls for it in 
the next life 1 But supposing that even this was not the 
case, (a case hardly to he imagined,) and that you have 
by no means, known or unknown , deserved the correction 
you suffered, there is this great comfort in it, that if you 
bear it patiently, and leave your cause in the hands of 
God, he will reward you for it in heaven, and the punish- 
ment you suffer unjustly here, shall turn to your exceed- 
ing great glory hereafter, 

I have thus endeavoured to lay before you the chief 
articles of your duty, many of which do indeed concern 
others as well as you, and of which I hope they and you 
will take due notice. But lest you should think that this 
duty is heavy and hard to be performed, by such poor, 
weak, frail creatures, subject to temptation, and inclined 
to sin and wickedness as we are, I must tell you, that 
though of ourselves we cannot do these things as we 
ought, yet, if we strive to the best of our knowledge apd 
power, and look up to God and pray to him for grace, he 
hath promised to give us the help of his holy spirit ; to 
cleanse our hearts ; to lead us into all truth, and to enable 
us to perform our duty as we ought to do. And as this 
is the greatest comfort a Christian can have, to know, 
that if he asks for it in prayer, he shall have the assist- 
ance of the holy spirit of God, to guide him in the way 
to heaven ; and help him to get the better of the temp- 
tations which the world, the flesh , or the devil shall throw 
in his way ; so this holy spirit is called the comforter, and, 
as such, was promised by our Saviour to his disciples, 
and to all true Christians, as the best and most precious 
gift he could bestow upon them, after he was taken up to 
heaven ; whither he is gone before, to prepare places for 
all his faithful servants in heaven. A reward which every 
good Christian shall receive from him, whether he be 
bond or free. 

This leads us to the consideration of the last point, pro- 
posed to be laid before you, and that is, 

III. What kind of reward you may expect to receive 
from him. 

And upon this head I shall say the less, because it is 
beyond all description : for eye hath not seen , nor ear heard , 
neither have entered into the heart of man , the things which 


34 


Dm SI 

A Q 

The Duties of Servants. 

God hath prepared for them that love him* If you are * 
desirous of rest, the holy spirit of God hath declared by 
a voice from heaven, that those who die in the Lord, that is, 
those who by serving him here, do die in his favour, are 
blessed, for they have rest from their labours. If you 
desire freedom, serve the Lord here, and you shall be his 
freemen in heaven hereafter. For he that is called in the 
Lord, though he be a servant, is the Lord’s freeman : 
while, at the same time, he who is called, being free, is 
still Christ’s servant. If you desire riches, Christ hath 
provided an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven, for 
the reward of his faithful servants ; and that shall last for 
ever, and cannot be taken from you. The riches that he 
will bestow upon you, are not like the riches of this 
world, which the moth and the rust can eat through, or 
which thieves can steal away from you ; but he bestows 
upon his servants treasures in heaven, which no waste or 
corruption can reach, and which will be secured to you 
to all eternity. And if you love pleasure, in his presence 
is fullness of joy, and at his right hand are pleasures for 
evermore. Are not these, my brethren and sisters, plea- 
sures worth seeking after ? Are not these privileges, this 
freedom, and these possessions, of far more value than 
thousands of worlds like this we live in, which we must 
all leave in a short time, and cannot carry with us into 
another life \ And can you ever sufficiently admire the 
goodness of God, or ever be thankful enough to him for 
his loving kindness, who hath set these glories and these 
enjoyments as much within the reach of the poorest slave 
among you, as of the greatest prince alive. For it is not 
worldly riches, it is not power, and high station, that can 
purchase these heavenly possessions : they are only to be 
gained by goodness and serving of God; and the mean- 
est of you can be good, and can serve God as much as the 
richest of your masters. And now I pray that the good 
spirit of God may take you into his holy teaching, and 
may so sanctify your natures while you live in this world, 
that when you go out of it God may say to you, — “ Come 
ye blessed children inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world.” — Amen — Amen. 


1 Cor. ii, 9 


